I have some questions ...

[nd2fxmess]

Hi.. I've been reading here (lurking) for a few days now.

Here is the run down of our situtation..
gross yr income 110512
net monthly 6400
house payment 1580 (in foreclosure reinstatment amount est 10400 waiting on actual figure told it would take 7 days)
2 car payments equal 799.52

that is all the secured debt... unsecured total of everything on credit report in full... 9100

Taxes of 1100


We fell behind because my husband went on workers comp for 3 months they kept losing our paychecks or delaying the mailing of them. There for bills got behind and fee's started to add up to were we couldn't pay them. Then when we were three months behind mortgage foreclosed and added attorney fee and prepaying next years taxes to reinstate! Needless to say I can't come up with that much money. I want to save my house which is why we are considering filing.

My question is do they do plans for less them 36 months. Our disposable income would be est. 1310 using the online est. calculators I found. Well I added 100% every penny listed on the credit reports/the back mortgage and the taxes.. divide that by 36 and the payment including 10% for fee's is under 800 dollars. So would they reduce our number of months in BK to take more of our income or would they just stretch it over the 36 months.

Thanks for any input.. we will be consulting an attorney so I guess we'd add attorney fee's into that as well.

[woeisme]

From what I understand, your monthly payments would be the $1300 you calculated, and you would just finish payments earlier once you had 100% paid off.

[nd2fxmess]

Thanks... That would mean we'd be done in 22 months or so. Has that ever happened to anyone scanning the board I've found only as early payoff of like 9 months or so.

[qwertysue]

From Nolo.com :

How Long Your Repayment Plan Will Last

The length of your repayment plan depends on how much you earn and how much you owe.

If your average monthly income over the six months prior to the date you filed for bankruptcy is more than the median income for your state, you'll have to propose a five-year plan.

If your income is lower than the median, you may propose a three-year plan.

(To get the median income figures for your state, go to the United States Trustee's website, www.usdoj.gov/ust, and click "Means Testing Information.")

No matter how much you earn, your plan will end if you repay all of your debts in full, even if you have not yet reached the three- or five-year mark.

[isitreal]

Same general situation

I'm in about the same boat and have filed just this week. You will be stuck with a lower REQUIRED payment on a 5 year plan. You can pay more and be discharged early. If you are paying off 100% in your plan, you do not pay your entire disposable income.

[chpxiii]

Thanks... That would mean we'd be done in 22 months or so. Has that ever happened to anyone scanning the board I've found only as early payoff of like 9 months or so.

You might be referring to me.

I was in 0% payback to unsecured and I filed old law. (I'll update my signature in a bit.) Under old law in a 5 yr payment plan, I would have to have paid into the plan for ATLEAST 36 months. I had paid into it for 51 months. I then owed what was left of the scheduled amount. Even though there was some money "left over," and I was in 0% payback to unsecured, some of that left over money went to unsecured.

[nd2fxmess]

I'm in about the same boat and have filed just this week. You will be stuck with a lower REQUIRED payment on a 5 year plan. You can pay more and be discharged early. If you are paying off 100% in your plan, you do not pay your entire disposable income.

I spoke to an attorney on the phone today, I'm going to research his firm before I stick with him though. He was super informative I gave him the same info I posted here. He said my husbands income (only he works) is so large and the fact we are about to get a raise vs our smallish debt that we wouldn't have to worry about all our "disposable" income being take as that would make the plan too short. For 60 months he was est a payment under 600 a month. The worst of my fears is now eased a bit so now we will go forth so we can save our house. Had we not had that issue with the workers comp we would not be in this situtation to begin with as my cards are not behind, my cars are not behind, just the house.


Thanks to all who posted!! I'm really glad I found this site and I'm sure I'll be a regular. Now we will have to figure out if we need to file jointly or not. If we file joint our debt may go up by about 600 dollars as I have some medical bills on mine they are old though from like 4-5 yrs ago some I know are out of SOL.

[nd2fxmess]

You might be referring to me.

I was in 0% payback to unsecured and I filed old law. (I'll update my signature in a bit.) Under old law in a 5 yr payment plan, I would have to have paid into the plan for ATLEAST 36 months. I had paid into it for 51 months. I then owed what was left of the scheduled amount. Even though there was some money "left over," and I was in 0% payback to unsecured, some of that left over money went to unsecured.

I was responding to Woeisme however thank you for your input as well. I'm sure we would be able to pay extra every month and pay it all off early if that was allowed in our case.

Thank you all again.

[chpxiii]

Good luck nd2fxmess!

[busbis]

We filed on 12/3 our 1st meeting will be on 1/8/08. Our plan has a total of about $36,000 and we have to pay all of our disposable income. With that our plan is less than 36 mos. Hopefully the trustee doesn't seem to have an issue. Our atty doesn't seem to think so since it is at 100% payback.

[nd2fxmess]

We filed on 12/3 our 1st meeting will be on 1/8/08. Our plan has a total of about $36,000 and we have to pay all of our disposable income. With that our plan is less than 36 mos. Hopefully the trustee doesn't seem to have an issue. Our atty doesn't seem to think so since it is at 100% payback.

Hhmm the attorney I spoke with today said he's never seen a BK 13 plan that was for less then 36 months. I'll have to see if we can get a consult with more then one attorney to make sure we are getting sound advice.

[isitreal]

We filed on 12/3 our 1st meeting will be on 1/8/08. Our plan has a total of about $36,000 and we have to pay all of our disposable income. With that our plan is less than 36 mos. Hopefully the trustee doesn't seem to have an issue. Our atty doesn't seem to think so since it is at 100% payback.

I too filed on 12/3. 1st meeting will be in January as well. We have about $60K of debt. Our disposable income was listed as about $2,400. We will have to make a payment of around $1,200 or so for 60 months. We can pay as much as we like and shorten it.. but that was the terms we were given.

[nd2fxmess]

I too filed on 12/3. 1st meeting will be in January as well. We have about $60K of debt. Our disposable income was listed as about $2,400. We will have to make a payment of around $1,200 or so for 60 months. We can pay as much as we like and shorten it.. but that was the terms we were given.

Well our total debt is about half yours and I spoke to a second attorney today who basically told me the same thing as the other one. That he'd never seen a plan for less then 36 months and that because of our income we'd have to go for 60 then we could pay off early by paying more. Our payment at 60 months is like 500 or something close to that. I was in shock really because all I ever hear is they take it all but once again I guess it goes back to us being a "cash" family and not using credit cards that much so our main reason for going BK is to save the house.

[isitreal]

Well our total debt is about half yours and I spoke to a second attorney today who basically told me the same thing as the other one. That he'd never seen a plan for less then 36 months and that because of our income we'd have to go for 60 then we could pay off early by paying more. Our payment at 60 months is like 500 or something close to that. I was in shock really because all I ever hear is they take it all but once again I guess it goes back to us being a "cash" family and not using credit cards that much so our main reason for going BK is to save the house.

You are correct. The plan length is determined based on your income level. You are given 36 months or 60 months. The plan length is not based on what you owe or how much you pay. You can certainly use all of your disposable income to pay the entire debt and get discharged early.

[cso5@]

You are given 36 months or 60 months.

Well, for the most part that is true. My plan is a 4.97% plan for 58 months. So it's not always 36 or 60.....like people, every bankruptcy is different, every trustee is different, every court seems to handle things just a little differently.

I am almost 2 years into my plan. So it is under the new law.